British Art Teacher Forges Pots

Blandford, England—Jeremy Broadway, a former public school art teacher, has been convicted of passing off his vases and bowls as the work of artists Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie, the Guardian reports. Broadway made up to £20,000 ($39,590) by selling his fakes to collectors across Europe and the U.S. When police questioned him, he claimed he had inherited the pieces, but in a second building at his home they found a studio with a potter's wheel and kiln, fake seal mark stamps, and a pile of fake Rie pots.

Broadway began selling the counterfeits via the Internet and lesser-known galleries. After a while, he moved on to big-name auction houses, and in 2004, he was able to sell three pieces, two allegedly by Leach and one by Rie, through Bonhams for £10,000. Three bowls were then offered up by Christie's for £17,000, but Ben Williams, the former head of ceramics at Bonhams, went to see them and became suspicious of their provenance. The bowls were withdrawn from sale as the police began an investigation that brought in fakes already sold all over England and in the U.S.

Broadway denied the charges of obtaining money for the bowls, but the case was proved against him. He was given a 12-month supervision order in November. The details of the proceedings have just been released after charges against his wife, Catherine, were dropped.